


just a little cliché

by rosegoldblood



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Nostalgia, Percico Angst & Fluff Month 2020, Prompt Fill, Regret, Sally Jackson is a Good Parent, Sharing a Bed, Sleepovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25436392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosegoldblood/pseuds/rosegoldblood
Summary: don't you hate it when you forget to bring a sleeping bag to a sleepover your childhood crush invited you to, and you both end up sleeping in the same bed? because nico hates that, too.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 119
Collections: Percico Angst and Fluff Month 2020





	just a little cliché

**Author's Note:**

> second work for percico angst and fluff month! the prompt was "regret" and this probably wasn't what the mods had in mind but (◕◡◕✿) i just can't think of any angst prompts rn fjgbjfk
> 
> this one's just pure fluff, so. hope you enjoy!

nico regretted _everything._

why did he say yes to a sleepover at percy's house? what was the _reason_? what was going through his stupid, mussed up mind when he said yes? it was as if every singular brain cell residing in his head had decided to abandon ship, leaving him to stutter half-formed words out. _"oh - uh - sure, i guess..."_

idiot. that's what he was. he should've bailed out or given some lame excuse while he had the chance, but nico apparently had _rocks_ for _brains_ , because there he was, backpack tucked under his arm, sword at his belt, staring at percy's door like it would give him a way out of his predicament if he just looked long and hard enough.

"neeks!" percy threw open the door, eyes shining with excitement, mouth curved into a grin like he'd known that nico was there although he hadn't knocked. "don't just stand there! you should've knocked or something." he laughed. "come on in! my mom's already cooked."

"can i ask you something?" nico said, trying his best to look at the floor instead of percy as he entered the house. the living room was flooded with warm light, a couch in the middle with a coffee table in front of it, magazines and a laptop on top of it. "why'd you ask me? why not - dunno. annabeth or jason?"

percy seemed surprised at the question. "you're my friend, neeks. sure, i care about annabeth and jason, but i care about you too." he smiled, almost blindingly so, before grabbing nico's duffel bag and setting it on the couch. "mom made fettuccine! blue, of course." 

they both walked over to the dining room, percy's hands on nico's shoulders. sally was standing in front of a sink, grey-black hair tied back into a loose ponytail. when they stepped in, she whirled around and a smile spread across her face. "hi, nico! it's so nice to see you."

before he could protest, sally was spreading her arms to offer a hug, and though his face was flushed red with embarrassment nico stepped forward and let her wrap her arms around him. reluctantly, he relaxed into her embrace. of course sally gave great hugs.

he pulled himself out of her grasp and rubbed at the back of his neck. "it's nice to see you too, mrs. jackson," nico said, smiling crookedly and the kind look on sally's face. no matter how hard he tried, she was just too likeable to be scowled at. her cheerfulness rubbed off on him.

"i've told you a dozen times already, nico, just call me sally," she laughed, playfully swatting him with a wooden spoon. "it's lovely to have you here. percy has been talking about you coming over for weeks now. i'd say he's even a little smitten." 

nico flushed red, an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. "mom!" percy protested, "you're embarrassing him! and me!" he pouted, crossing his arms, and sally walked over to pat him on his back. "hmf."

"sorry, dear," she replied, and percy's pout vanished and was replaced by a grin. she set down a bowl full of fettuccine, dyed a pleasant shade of blue. "i've gotten into making more italian cuisine recently," sally said casually, placing a jar of powdered parmesan next to the bowl. "and since you're italian..."

"yeah," nico said, allowing himself to laugh a little. he scooped up a big spoon of pasta and dumped it onto his plate, sticking a spoonful into his mouth and chewing. after the war, food had slowly regained its appeal, nico starting to associate it less with the life he had before and more with the life he had _now,_ with hazel and jason and reyna and... percy.

sally leaned over and grinned at nico. "so? how is it?" she asked eagerly. percy looked to him too, eyebrows raised as if he was expecting an answer, too. a warm feeling spread through nico's chest, curling up in his stomach. nostalgia was wrapping around him like a vice, from the taste of the pasta to the lighting of the dining room.

there was a hand on his shoulder. "nico?" he was still smiling, but there was concern in his eyes. "you okay? what, is it that bad?" nico shook his head, trying his best to shake away the memories of his mother, and his old home, and his sister. 

"it's good," he managed. just as suddenly as the old memories came, they washes away, like a tidal wave withdrawing from the shore of a beach, leaving nothing but wet sand and the remains of everything lost in the water. "thanks - sally. this is good. it - uh - reminds me of when i was a child, i guess."

she brightened at this. "thank you, dear. high praise coming from you." sally reached over to ruffle his hair, before placing her wooden spoon in the sink. "i have some work to do, so i'll leave you boys alone. you call me if you need anything, alright?" she turned to walk up the stairs. "and don't do anything i wouldn't do."

" _mom,_ " percy chastised, face red, as nico looked on in confusion. he turned back to the latter and smiled. "can i be honest?" he didn't wait for an answer. "i'm really glad you came, nicks. i know you don't like socialising or... being with other people all that much." a nervous laugh, and nico smiled awkwardly. _i love being with you._ he swatted the thought away.

"so i appreciate that you came here for me. and stuff." his face got even redder and he shrugged. percy took his first bite of pasta and his eyes grew wide. "holy shit. that's good." he shoveled the blue fettuccine into his mouth, trying to talk through the food.

"that's disgusting, jackson," nico said. percy laughed and shrugged, smearing sky blue sauce all around his mouth. he wiped it away, but there was still a smudge left at the corner of his lips, and nico cringed at the sight. "ugh. just let me -" he reached over to swipe at the remainder of the sauce, before blushing bright red as he realised what he'd done, "fuck, sorry, i -"

but all percy said was, "oh, thanks!" his hand brushed against nico's for a moment and he was back to eating. nico tilted his head and watched percy devour his food and found himself smiling in content. if percy was happy nico was here, maybe it wouldn't be too bad after all.

he went back to eating his pasta, thinking that maybe, just _maybe,_ his regret was for nothing.

-

it was not, in fact, for nothing.

"percy?" nico's voice was high-strung as he scrambled around the room. he even stuck his head under the bed, on his fours, looking for his sleeping bag. which was nowhere to be found, not even under the bed (because why would it be under the bed?) "i - i can't find my sleeping bag."

"oh," percy said, shuffling onto his feet. "let me see if i can find an extra one, okay? we go camping sometimes, i'm sure we have one. don't worry about it, nico." he smiled and ran out of the room, slamming his door shut behind him, the tromp of footsteps echoing down to the basement audible.

regret began to wash up in his body once again. he guessed he could just go back to camp, shadowtravel there, but there was no doubt the harpies would catch him and it'd be such a hassle. nico hoped percy was right, that he did have a sleeping bag, except when the latter bounded back in his hands were empty.

nico curled his fingers into the fabric of his shirt, pressing his nails against his skin through the material as nervousness grew in the pit of his stomach. a strange sense of dread took hold of him, like stomach butterflies, except much, much worse. 

"sorry, neeks," percy said, tilting his hands up so his empty palms faced nico. it almost seemed like mockery, except he could tell percy was being genuine. somehow that made it worse. "it's not a big deal, right? we're demigods. who needs a sleeping bag?" he offered a tilted grin.

"i'll just shadowtravel back to camp," nico replied miserably. it was such a shame - he was almost having fun, as well, lounging around percy's bedroom floor with board game pieces and pillows scattered around them. but of course he had ruined everything for himself, as nico always did, and he wished sorely that he could turn back time and remember to pick up that damned sleeping bag.

as he stood up, percy grabbed his wrist, fingers wrapping around it loosely. "wait," he said. there was a drawn-out silence, percy's eyes focused on the floor beneath him, like he was trying to figure out what to say. finally, he looked up at nico and sighed. "please don't leave."

nico's mouth, opened, then closed, words on the tip of his tongue that he couldn't spit out. "i mean, it's okay if you _want_ to -" percy laughed nervously, "- but i was having - fun. and i thought maybe you were too." 

_i'm going to regret this._ "oh. uh..." he licked his lips, looking back and forth between percy, who was pouting, and the messy room. "fine." at this percy brightened, a dopey smile spreading across his face. why he was so happy to have nico with him, nico didn't know. "i was having fun. i suppose."

"good!" percy sprung up again, dragging nico down. he must have overestimated nico's weight, because they both crashed down to the floor. nico groaned and rubbed his sore nose against the first available surface, which happened to be percy's shirt. his chest, to be specific. nico made a strangled sound and looked up, blushing. "sorry! sorry. jeez, you're way too light."

they both sat up. percy ran his hand up and down nico's arms comfortingly. "sorry," he apologised again, "want to keep playing monopoly? although, uh, i think the board's kind of scrambled by now." the building pieces had been knocked off, and fake pieces of money fluttered around the room. "we can start over."

nico almost said yes, but just the thought of restarting a whole new round of that damned game made him groan internally. also, he was much better at it than percy anyway. he guessed all that time in the lotus hotel paid off. "don't wanna," he said lazily, and percy nodded.

silence fell over them as percy tried to sweep the pieces in the box as best as he could. when he couldn't fit the board inside, he made a noise of frustration and pushed the half-sticking out board and box into the corner, jumping up onto the bed. 

"you're lazy," nico drawled, jerking his head toward the mess in the corner. percy reached over to run his fingers through nico's hair. he flushed red but didn't pull away, letting percy scratch gently at the nape of nico's neck. 

"yeah, well, you didn't help at all," percy shot back. he propped himself up on his elbows and nico _almost_ whined at the loss of his hand in his hair. thankfully, he didn't. "what do you want to do now?" nico shrugged. "what do people do during sleepovers? talk about boys?" he fell flat on his back onto the mattress, turning his head slightly to look at nico with a grin on his face. "hey, nico, want to talk about boys?"

he rolled his eyes. "sure, perce. which boy do you have in mind?" nico rebuked sarcastically, but his eyebrows furrowed when he realised percy was looking more serious than usual, nose scrunched up like he was thinking.

"well, actually, i do have a specific boy in m -" he was cut off by the sound of sally's voice, telling him from downstairs to help wash the dishes, "- oh. i'll only be a minute. you don't mind, right?" percy didn't wait for an answer, hopping off the bed to rush out the door.

nico looked after him, squinting, mind whirring to catch up with what had just happened. they had been so unbelievably close, too. and what percy was going to say - he had seemed so serious. there had been something in his eyes, too - almost sad - melancholy. like longing. 

_and what was he going to say_ , nico wondered as he flopped back onto the mattress, losing himself in his thoughts and the sound of running water from the floor below him. m - what? mind? that was logical. maybe he wanted to talk about one of the campers, tell a funny story like he always did, except he had been so... stoic about it.

none of it made sense.

when percy came back up to the room, wiping his wet hands on his sweatpants, nico asked him what he was going to say. and with a shrug and a faint trace of shakiness in his voice, all he said was _oh, it was nothing._

-

"come on, nico, it's okay. i'll take the floor."

nico shook his head, crossing his arms. his shoes had been kicked off along with percy's, pushed against the wall beside the door. they had arranged a giant pile of as many pillows and blankets as they had found beside the bed, making a rather comfortable place for someone to sleep in.

that is, if they could decide _who_ would be taking the floor. "go fuck yourself, jackson, this is your home," nico spat back, edging away from the bed. "you're the host, it's only reasonable i take the floor. you have to put up with me anyway."

"put up with you?" percy said exasperatedly. "i was the one who basically begged you to stay. it's fine, seriously, i told you. take the bed." he nudged nico toward it, and the soft, squishy mattress _did_ look really tempting. "yeah, come on, nico. you know you want to."

he made a strangled noise and turned away. "i'm taking the floor. that's it." percy made a frustrated noise and announced that he wasn't going to take the bed either, and they faced the walls, back-to-back, feet rooted to the ground, before percy got impatient and sighed.

"how about we sleep together?" he suggested, and when nico whipped around in shock percy turned bright red. "w - i don't mean like that! i just mean we can share the bed. i mean, it's a big one." that was true. it was a queen-sized one that stretched across the length of the window. they could easily both fit in it without even making contact.

"i don't know," nico said, although he was halfway sold already. percy looked at him hopefully, eyes darting between nico and the blankets on the bed. it was definitely inviting, but nico was afraid. that he'd do something. that it'd be too much, to see every single line of percy's eyes and his lips up close.

but at the look on percy's face, the doubt in nico's head faded away to be replaced by a strange sense of longing. maybe it wouldn't be so bad. they were just sleeping. "fine," he relented, and percy grinned, quick to scoop up the blankets and pillows on the floor and dump them all on the bed.

they both stepped away, squinting at the huge pile of fluff. it almost seemed impossible to sleep in, until percy pushed the stack down, scrambling them all over the mattress. as a result it looked more like a fort than anything, and the sickening sense of warmth and memory started to wrap around nico again.

"ta-da! nico, y - what's wrong?" percy's concern mode was on, watching as nico stared at the mess of quilts. when he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine the feel of the rougher fabric beneath his fingers, small snippets of time he had spent with - her. his sister. "nicky, is something wrong?"

"it's - it's just..." he rubbed at his lips. just like before, the memories had withdrawn back into the deep recess of his mind that he didn't particularly want to explore. nico shook his head. "bianca and i... we used to make forts and stuff. they weren't the most comfortable but - they were fun."

percy touched nico's back, the spot between his shoulder blades, and smiled sadly. "nico," he said, gently, almost pitifully. in any other situation nico would have snapped at him - he hated being pitied - except this time it was different. "i'm sorry. but also, that seems... nice. i never got to have forts or sleepovers with anyone, really."

this time it was nico's turn to pity him. "right. i'm sorry about that, too... percy." every syllable felt like a prayer, something sacred, too hard to say and yet it rolled off his tongue easily, as well. "funny... how things turn out," he said, and percy laughed.

"i really am glad you're here, nico." his voice cracked on nico's name, and he rubbed at his eyes, which were beginning to gloss over. "but - enough of that. let's just enjoy this." like someone had switched something inside of him, percy was bouncing on his heels once again.

nico tucked his arms into the pockets of his jacket and watched, amused, as percy bounded across the room to turn off the lights. "i know you're afraid of the dark, so," percy began, and nico made a _tch_ sound at his statement (not like it was false, though), "i got a night light!"

"just for me?" nico questioned, uncertain.

"well, it's an old one," percy said, "but i did dig through, like, a dozen dusty boxes for it... so, yeah, i guess so. just for you." the night light shone bright blue in the dark, and it was shaped like one of the ghosts from pac-man. it was clearly run down, but the fact that percy had put in effort so that nico wouldn't be scared of his own stupid element - well. it made him feel a little fuzzy inside.

"thanks," nico murmured under his breath as percy set it down on the bedside table. percy climbed onto the bed, rolling over to the other side, before patting at the empty space beside him. after a moment of consideration, nico shifted to lay there too. the weight of the blankets made him feel relaxed almost immediately. 

they faced each other, staring into each other's eyes, for a long minute, before percy let out a loud puff of air with restlessness and squirmed around to get comfortable. nico rolled his eyes and told him to stop it, and that was that. more silence.

nico rubbed at his arms. despite the jacket, percy's room was freezing. maybe that was expected from the son of poseidon. he tried to hide his shivering, but percy was more observant than he seemed, and picked up on it as soon as it started. "oh, you're cold? hold on."

he jumped when percy went to tug nico's jacket off, sliding the fabric down his arms. with some difficulty he managed to pull it off, fingers lingering for a second across nico's skin, before throwing it on his body. before nico could protest, there were arms wrapping around him, pulling him forward.

now they were even closer, noses really touching. nico was glad that, in the darkness, percy couldn't see the blush spreading across his cheeks at the proximity. percy's blue-green eyes almost glowed in the dark, like the calm surface of the sea illuminated by the moon.

"we're really close," nico remarked, and percy nodded.

"we are," he agreed. then he sighed, heavily. "nico, i need to tell you something." nico's heart started pounding like a drum.

fuck. percy knew. of course he did. he was so much smarter than people gave him credit for. nico knew the sleepover wasn't just for fun. he was _nico._ nobody invited him to sleepovers for fun, not even percy. this was just a way to let him down slowly.

there was a hand on his shoulder, and percy closed his eyes, almost in pain. "i like you a lot, nico," he finally said, and nico blinked. that wasn't what he was expecting, but he figured there was probably a _but_ somewhere in there. it never came. "a lot, a lot."

nico bit his lip, trying not to get his hopes up despite the feeling of his heart soaring in his chest. "you mean - like, as in..." it was too good to be true, but then again, maybe the gods were paying him back. for all the shit he'd been through.

"like, as in, i want to -" percy took a shaky breath, "- hug you. kiss you. be there for you... and shit." he shrugged, embarrassment clear on his face. "as in - i love you, neeks." nico exhaled sharply, wondering whether this was some kind of cruel vision to make him believe in something good for himself before it was taken away. "and i'm sorry, you don't feel the same way, but i -"

he was interrupted by nico drawing in closer and pressing his face into percy's chest. "i do," he muttered into the fabric of percy's blue shirt, and smiled at his soft _oh._ "i feel the same way, percy. longer than you, probably." _ever since we met. it's always been you._ "i always have."

when percy smiled, unadulterated happiness obvious through every feature of his face, nico thought he could see tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. with a breath that borderlined on a sob, percy buried his face in nico's hair. "i can't wait for tomorrow," he whispered, "good night, nico."

"good night, percy."

maybe he didn't regret forgetting that sleeping bag after all.

**Author's Note:**

> percy's kind of out of character in this but let's... not talk about that.


End file.
